I mean... they're 3-0 against Sentinels this year for a reason

Probably Asuna (except when he's playing KAY/O Ascent)

I feel bad. Hope you're at least enjoying the game

It's his thing. Kind of like how TenZ's thing is a full red collection.

I get what you're trying to say, but no, Cloud9 is definitely blue. Sky blue, but still blue. If you're thinking of DRX as blue, that's actually indigo. And if you want a real example of cyan, look to Bilibili Gaming.

Argument to blue: current KOI, every other iteration of DRX
Argument to red white blue: they're the only team with that colour scheme
Argument to red: T1

No more icy hate.

I didn't even think of that when I made the change. That's actually a really interesting observation. I wonder if Reyna would see play on more op-heavy maps like Ascent or Abyss because of that. Fun to think about for sure

Sure we can throw that in, why not. I don't think it was announced when they took it out, so I'll just put it back in unannounced

Great feedback, man, thanks for that. Here are my thoughts:

• I don't think Jett's role would change much here. You can still dash directionally by flicking and dashing (pros are already comfortable doing this). I will admit I may have made the cloudbursts too small but this was an in-my-head type of estimate, as I can't playtest these changes. I think 3 meters would've been a better number, thinking back.

• The nade is definitely a good piece of util, but in my opinion the biggest problem with Raze's kit is her blast pack, because of how many different things you can do with it—entry, reposition, throw off people's crosshairs, boost teammates, get people off the spike, peek quickly, destroy sentinel utility, and more—for only 150 credits. That's what I had in mind when I made those changes. Raze nade is definitely the best molly/nade in the game, but I don't think it's too busted.

• Neon is in a good place right now, but I don't see her ultimate getting too much value in pro play. A lot of the time they're kind of just running at an enemy and getting tapped. This buff tried to change that, not only making you harder to hit, but also making the ult easier to hit as well. Now, I did think it would be broken if it was just fully accurate in the air, so I made it not fully accurate (think classic pistol accuracy—I probably should've specified that now that I think about it) and cost 8 ult points instead of 7.

• I definitely overcooked the Yoru change. Now that I'm thinking about it, not being able to break the teleport is stupid. If I were to remake this thread, I'd leave that out and keep everything else in.

• Phoenix having two mollies was also pretty far-fetched. I think just having the one is good, especially since you get a second after getting two kills. If there's any way to buff them, it would probably be the size of the molly, but anything other than that would either break lineups be an overtune.

• I didn't think about the new implications of Iso's ultimate when I thought of that change; I was thinking of what people were saying when he first came out, that it was dumb that you could invest an ultimate and just straight up die and get no value. I do like having Iso not die, but I'd probably implement another change or two to the ult as well (I mentioned them in other replies in this thread, but maybe giving Iso one barrier instead of two, or shrinking the range of the ult, or even making it more obvious where Iso is ulting from to the enemy team), something to counteract the buff.

• The way I see the Reyna change I made is the same way I see the Iso shield buff. Before the buff, you got no value unless you killed an opponent. You can't really rely on killing a person to entry, especially when they have to be in line of sight. That's what the change was meant for: space making and entry power. I didn't think of opping power when I made that change, but that honestly could be a reason to pick her over other duelists. Definitely would make the duelist class a lot more interesting. All that being said, though, I don't think she can really full replace Jett, Raze, Yoru, or even Neon as a dive entry, because you can still be seen during the entire dismiss and you don't really have any cover once you enter your dismiss unless you combo with a Jett smoke or Harbor cove or something of the sort.

Maybe, but I meant a regional rivalry. Something like EDG vs. FPX, or DRX vs. PRX

Up until last year we have NV/OPTC/NRG vs. LOUD... maybe that's why this year feels a bit bland in Americas. We're missing that big top 2 rivalry

They win the group

Share yours here
https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/f5778d88

I hate you with every fiber of my being

Their Abyss is better (they're running Harbor)

I made Jett dash a bit harder to use and gave her the second updraft back. I removed one use case from the satchel and made her total kit 100 credits more expensive. I buffed Neon ult but made it cost more, gave Yoru minor quality of life changes, buffed Iso a bit (albeit a bit too much), and gave Reyna a free use of her signature ability.

I didn't trash any agents, nor did I make anyone unreasonably overpowered. The only one you could argue I made too oppressive is Phoenix, and even then he still has no movement, no teleports, and no invulnerability, so people aren't gonna opt for him very often.

Thank you

There are three Lithuanians in tier 1 and you forgot one of them

Unable to fetch translation

90% someone calls this a mickey mouse tournament before it even starts
50% the grand final breaks the viewership record
10% a team other than Leviatán will pick Harbor on Abyss :(

I'm guessing you one-trick Jett

That's a good point. I don't know, honestly. We probably just scrap that ult change, I think.

I don't know what that is

Türkiye/South Korea is the favourite
USA is the crowd favourite
Dark horses are Canada and China (I mean, it's an entire region)
Other great teams include Russia, Japan, Taiwan, Brazil, Poland, and Indonesia

Fair lol

uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

https://imgur.com/a/5OWNAsB

That's true, but Phoenix molly is bigger and does 60 damage per second, so it's a bit more akin to if we have Brimstone two mollies.

I guess the Cloudburst change is a bit excessive, now that I think about it.

The Phoenix change is a bit nuts now that I'm reading it back as well, too. Two mollies definitely isn't a good idea, especially when you can kill two people and get a third. You could either remove the second charge or remove the kill reset like with Iso shield.

The Yoru buffs are mainly quality of life changes, as I think Yoru's already a really good duelist and people just need more incentive to try to play him, especially in the pro scene where you still only see two or three duelists the majority of the time.

The Phoenix buffs might be a bit over the top, but because he doesn't have movement or teleports or invulnerability or anything of the sort, I feel he needs his clear strengths for him to be considered over other duelists. If people want to lean into more supportive utility instead of the ability to take space, then I feel that's the only way for him to genuinely see play.

As for Iso... yeah, I did make the ult a little broken. I proposed in other replies to either revert the no-death change, or to nerf the ult in some other way, like reducing the range or giving Iso one barrier instead of two.

I think I did make it a bit more powerful, but there are changes we could make to circumvent that. Maybe giving Iso one barrier instead of two to negate that advantage inside the ult, or lessening the range to make it more punishable when you come out of the ult, or something like that. Do you have any ideas?

Ty!

I don't think it's too powerful, honestly. It could be a little overtuned, but I think that puts it in line with other 8 cost ults. All I'm really doing with this change is increasing multikill potential and the number of things you can do with the ult. I talked about this a bit more in #8 so feel free to check that.

It could be overpowered, as I admitted in #11. Even though you can technically punish it like a Phoenix ult, because of the range it's not obvious where you're ulting from. So you could either scrap the Phoenix ult-esque no death treatment, or you could reduce the range of the ult, or do something else with the ult to make it less oppressive.

Thank you!

I guess that is a bit op. But this is kinda what everyone was asking for when he first came out, right? "Why can you die in your ult? Make it like Phoenix ult!" You do have a point, though. Iso ult is very different than Phoenix ult, so giving it the Phoenix ult treatment might make it broken. We could either scrap that change, or change the ult in some way. My idea is removing the two shields for Iso so that each agent has only one shield.

Feel free to just read the bullet points then

Do you really think so? I'm making it an 8 cost ult and making her a bit faster and a lot more accurate in the air. It's not like she has updrafts or something, so the most she can really do is ferrari peek you or jump shot with her ult. I don't think that's too strong. If it was fully accurate in the air like Jett knives, maybe, but when I say almost completely accurate I'm imagining the first bullet accuracy of a classic

Warning: this is a very long thread.

I'm a sleep-deprived theory crafter and this is my half-hearted and pretty far-fetched take on balancing every agent in VALORANT. For the sake of the thing, I'm gonna make changes to every single agent, even the ones I think are actually okay.

(This was originally meant to be for all the agents, but it took way too long so I just did the duelists. I'll do the other classes another time.)

Jett is a very interesting agent who always seems to have her place in the meta; long ago it was because of her power, especially on certain maps, but nowadays I feel it's more due to get familiarity. So many pros are so experienced with Jett that she sees play on maps where you may not even need a duelist, such as Icebox, or maps where may be better alternatives, such as Sunset. These changes aim to close the gap between Jett and other underplayed duelists (such as Yoru, Neon, or Phoenix) and give Jett advantages and disadvantages instead of simply being the go-to pick.

• Tailwind (E) no longer accepts directional input (i.e. you can only dash forward)
• Cloudburst (C) radius decreased from 3.35 >> 2.75 m
• Updraft (Q) charges increased from 1 >> 2

Raze is in a very peculiar position in the meta currently, where she sees play on a lot of maps in rotation, but is no longer the definitive meta duelist in pro play on any of those maps, with the exception of Bind. This is typically a good spot to be in, but there is one ability in particular that I believe was tweaked in the wrong sense. These changes intend to create a more definitive use case for Raze's satchels. A nice quality of life change was thrown in as well.

• Blast Pack (Q) can only move Raze upon detonation (i.e. no knockback dealt)
• Blast Pack (Q) cost increased 200 >> 250 credits
• Blast Pack (Q) audio for second cast has been reverted to pre-patch 8.11 (i.e. no high-pitched second satchel)

Neon is a duelist that has risen in popularity since patch 8.11. She's seeing a lot more play, both professionally and casually. However, her ultimate doesn't seem to find very much success in the former case. These changes to Neon's ultimate ability are an effort to increase both the cost and the reward.

• Overdrive (X) is now almost fully accurate in the air
• Neon's running speed is increased by 15% when Overdrive (X) is active
• Overdrive (X) cost increased from 7 >> 8 ultimate points

Yoru is another agent that has seen more play this year, especially on larger maps such as Breeze. However, since Breeze was taken out in patch 8.11, Yoru has seen significantly less play. This patch aims to present Yoru as a more convincing option for a duelist, including some major quality of life changes.

• Gatecrash (E) timer increased from 30 >> 40 seconds
• Gatecrash (E) timer will not deplete during the buy phase
• Gatecrash (E) can no longer be destroyed
• Blindside (Q) cost decreased from 250 >> 200 credits

Phoenix is an agent that has been unloved in the pro scene for a very long time. His strengths are overshadowed by the fact that his duelist counterparts (and even agents in other classes) are often times more reliable picks. These buffs to Phoenix's kit are meant to push Phoenix in the right direction, and to incentivize choosing him over more traditionally played duelists.

• Blaze (C) no longer stops when it comes into contact with a wall (i.e. it can go through walls)
• Blaze (C) no longer deals damage to allies
• Curveball (Q) cost decreased from 250 >> 200 credits
• Hot Hands (E) charges increased from 1 >> 2 (second charges costs 200 credits)
• Run It Back (X) duration increased from 10 >> 12 seconds

Iso is the newest duelist in VALORANT, yet he's seen quite a lot of success since his inception. However, there are a few parts of his kit that have proven a little lackluster in some areas. These changes are meant to serve as quality of life changes, both for Iso and for those playing around him.

• Contingency (C) width increased by 50%
• Undercut (Q) vulnerable duration increased from 4 >> 6 seconds
• Kill Contract (X) can no longer kill Iso (i.e. he respawns if he loses)

Reyna is another agent that saw changes in patch 8.11. However, although her changes fixed her ranked dominance, her entry power seems to have gone down, if anything. This change aim to give Reyna new life when it comes to entry potential.

• Dismiss (E) can now be cast once without requiring nor consuming a soul orb (i.e. she gets a free dismiss. You don't need to buy this extra dismiss, it's just there until you use it. If you have a soul orb available it will use the soul orb and not the free dismiss)

Alright, those are my takes. If you have any comments feel free to share. I'll answer any questions when I wake up.

Power to rush a site in the first 10 seconds of a round ranking

You're so mean :(

LAN client, probably

I stopped reading at "excluding CN teams"

Any random tier 2/3 flair

True, but at the end of the day, it is still an online forum, accessible by anyone who has internet. You never know what someone could do with your information.

Because no one watched NIP. No one even took interest in them running Deadlock except certain YouTubers like TMV and Woohoojin.

That's true. Sliggy is basically a secondary commentator, though. Same with Sideshow, except he literally is a commentator.

Ew what is that UI

Watching the main stream helps a LOT with that. With watch parties, the streamer tends to go on side tangents and pinpoint specific things and set certain expectations—which is fun, but it adds a lot more to think about. If you're purely trying to enjoy the esports in and of itself, watch the main stream. There, you only need to worry about the action and the casting that goes along with it.